Another Lean Year for School Cases Before the Court Predicted

The U.S. Supreme Court opens its new term this week having agreed to
hear appeals so far in only two cases of significant interest to
educators.

One case, accepted for review just last week, involves the
desegregation plan for the Kansas City, Mo., school district. (See
related story.) The other involves the
constitutionality of a federal law that bars gun possession near
schools.

If recent years are any indication, the chances are slim that the
Supreme Court will take on many other(See ducation cases.

"Last year was a lean year, and this year looks even leaner," said
August W. Steinhilber, the general counsel of the National School
Boards Association.

Last week, the High Court met to consider more than 1,700 appeals
that have piled up since last spring, including about 15 education
cases. The Court was to announce by early this week whether it would
review any of the following issues:

Whether a New Jersey school district violated a student's rights
by barring her from her high school graduation ceremony for taking a
sip of champagne on the way to the prom. The case is Freedman v.
Board of Education of the Borough of Park Ridge (Case No.
94-4).

Whether a public school principal can be held liable for a
teacher's sexual abuse of a student. Lankford v. Doe (No.
93-1918).

Whether a City College of New York department chairman can be
disciplined for hateful comments he made about Jews during a speech
about New York State's multicultural school curriculum. Harleston
v. Jefferies (No. 94-112).

Whether Louisiana's high school exit test violates due-process
requirements because it does not apply to private school students.
Rankins v. Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary
Education (No. 94-119).

Wanted: More Guidance

The High Court last term ruled on two cases involving school
districts--a special-education dispute and an establishment-of-religion
case involving a school district for a community of Hasidic Jews.

Some legal experts argue that the Court is shirking its
responsibility to decide education issues that are creating uncertainty
and turmoil across the nation. Cases involving religion are the
examples cited most often, as school administrators are threatened with
suits from all sides over such issues as graduation prayers.

But educators are also clamoring for more guidance in such areas as
special education and school officials' responsibility for student
safety.

"There are some very strong issues involved in the question of
whether there is a constitutional right of a child to be safe in public
school," said Ivan B. Gluckman, the legal counsel of the National
Association of Secondary School Principals. "If so, what obligation
does that dictate to the local school district and its
administrators?"

The High Court has previously declined to review several cases
involving schools' "duty to protect" students. (See related stories,
1/27/93 and 1/26/94
.)

From Courts to Congres

"We have so much litigation in the area of special education, it
would be nice to get some attention" from the Supreme Court, Mr.
Gluckman said.

But he noted that school districts have turned to Congress for help
on one such issue. Pending legislation to reauthorize the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act includes a measure allowing for longer
suspensions of disabled students who bring weapons to school. (See
Education Week, Sept. 28, 1994.)

Many advocates have clamored for more guidance from the High Court
in the raging debate over "voluntary, student-led" prayers.

The Court fueled the confusion by ruling against clergy-led
graduation prayers in its 1992 decision in Lee v. Weisman, then
declining a year later to review a decision by the Fifth Circuit Court
in Jones v. Clear Creek Independent School District allowing students
at a Texas high school to vote on whether to have "nonsectarian,
nonproselytizing" graduation prayers led by students. (See Education
Week, June 16, 1993.)

There are no cases dealing with "voluntary" student prayers
currently pending before the HighCourt. But such a case will probably
make its way through the lower courts within a year or two.

Even so, such contentious religious issues are probably one area
where the Justices may never really be able to settle matters.

"This is an area where the court has struggled for years and split
the difference," said Douglas Laycock, a professor of constitutional
law at the University of Texas. The Justices "draw distinctions in the
middle and the advocates on both sides keep pushing them to the
line."

One school-law expert said it is unrealistic to expect the Court to
resolve all thorny education issues.

"It's too simplistic to wait for a Supreme Court decision like the
Messiah," said Perry Zirkel, a professor of education and law at Lehigh
University.

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